Pumping well hook-off device



July 16, 1940. P, N L 2,207,937

PUMPING WELL HOOK-OFF DEVICE Filed NOV. 15, 1938 INVENTOR.

James P Neel I ATTORNEY.

Patented July 16, 1940 2,207,937 PUMPING WELL HOOK-OFF DEVICE 1 James PQNeel, Valley'Center, Kans Application N0vember 15, 1938,' Serial Nbl 240,499

3 Calms.

My invention relates to an improvement in pumping well hook-oil devices. It is the practice in the oil fields to install a central power unit which will operate rod or cable lines that in turn operate their respective pump jack at the well. It will be understood that one of these power units willlfurnish power to pump all the wells on as much as a quarter section or even a whole section of ground at one time, therefor there may be several rod lines run from the power unit to the various wells, or there may be branch rod lines that are connected with a major rod line which furnishes power for several of the branch lines. Each of these branch lines operate a pump jack at their respective well. There are times when it may be desirable to cut off'the reciprocal motion of the rod line to some one well and let the others remain in motion. It is the object of my invention to provide a device that will function to engage or disengage any one rod line with the major power line without affecting any of the other rod lines. It is a still further object of my invention to make engagement or disengagement from the power line quickly and without any interruption of the operation of any of the other rod lines. "This hook-off device may also be applied to the main power line and may be employed to control the motion of the entire rod system for all the wells at once. -A still further object is to provide a device of the kind mentioned that is cheap to make, easy to install, efiicient in its work, and one that is durable and long lived.

These and other objects will be more fully explained as this description progresses.

Now referring to the accompanying drawing, Fig. l is a perspective view showing the device in its engaged position.

, Fig. 2 is a perspective view in its disengaged position. v

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view, partly in section, showing in detail the action and construction of the engaging and disengaging elements.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail sectional view through the guide and stop post, the view being showing the device taken along thev line IV-IV in Fig. 1. v

Similar numerals of reference designate the same parts throughout the several figures ofthe drawing.

In the drawing is shown a concrete pier or base 5., In the upper face' of the base 5 is imbedded a plate 6 that is rigidly held in place by a series of bolts I, that are imi bedded in'the concrete base 5 and project upwardly therefrom and'extend through holes in the plate 6, there being nuts 8,- threadedgon the bolts 1 to rigidly Iito the concrete base 5. v

At 9 is shown a vertically positioned pipe, the lower end of which is-welded totheplate 6. The pipe 9 is provided with a-pair of diametrically opposed slotsID andIIla. At II and Ila is a pair of plates-that line the sides of the slots I0 and I90, and extend throughithe pipe 9. The edges of the plates II and IIa are welded to the edges of the pipe 9 at each side of the slots II] and I001. as indicated at I2 so 'as toform a rigid side lining through the pipe'9 between the slots I0 and Illa.

Slidably positioned within the slots I0 and Illa and through the post 9 is a draw bar I3. In the rear end of the draw bar I3 is a hole I4 through which is passed a U-shapedelement IS, the ends of the legs of which are rigidly clamped between a pair of clamp iblocks I6 and Ilia that are rigidly clamped onto theouter ends of the legsjof the bind the plate U'-shaped element by meansof bolts I'I. At I8 is shown one end of the rod line that leads: to the Dump jacks. The inner end of the rod line I8 is provided with a head I9 The inner end of. the rod I8 passes loosely through a hole formed between the clamp blocks I6 and I6a so that the head -l9 will rest against the clamp blocks I6 and Ilia in such a manner that the rod I8 can not bepulled from-between the clamp blocks I6 and Ilia.

- The front end of with a coupling hook portion 20 and a stationing hook portion 2I. The hook elements 2E! .and 2| being formed by cutting notches 20a and 2Ia in thedraw bar I3, the notch 2311 being cut in the bottom edge of the draw bar I3,-and the notch s Ia being cut in-the top edge of the draw bar I3; The notches 20a and-2 Ia are cut so that the hook 29 is positioned at the front end of the draw bar I3; and-the'hook 2| ispositioned somewhat behindthe hook 20.; At 22 is apin that passes through the draw bar I3 and. projects a shortdistance on, either side of the draw bar I3, the pin 22 is welded to the draw bar. I3 so as to provide a permanent and rigid mounting of the pin 22 on the draw bar I3. At 23 is a lever passing through slots such as 24 in the pipe 9, the lever being pivotally mounted on a pin 25 that is carried bythe pipe 9 so that the lever 23 maybe-rocked up and down for purposes, that will later-be made obvious. The

the draw bar I3 is provided pin 25 and lever 23. are so mounted that the rear lever 23 drops down the front end of thelever'23 will rise until itengages the upper edge of the metal around the slot 24 whereupon the lever 23 is held in substantially a horizontal position.

At 26 is a triangular shaped stop element, which is pivotally mounted at its apex 27 on the front endof the lever 23 in such a manner that the stop element hangs vertically just in front of the pipe 9 and with the base, or cross member, of the triangular stop element suspended just above the top edge of the draw bar l3.

At 28 is shown one end of a shaft, the other end of which is connected with a power unit which imparts a reciprocal motion to the shaft 28. The

free end of the shaft 28 is slidably supported on a horizontally positioned bar 29 that is carried on ya pair of posts 30 that are set in the ground.

Rigidly mounted on the free end of the shaft 28 is a bifurcated fitting 3|, and the bifurcations are joined together on the-top edge and adjacent the outer ends thereof by a bar 32 that is welded to the bifurcation ends. I I At 33.is a looped link that is provided at one end with a .pin portion 33a that is integrally formed on the link 33. At 34 is a bearing element rearwardly to form a lever handle 31'.

The link 33- is made of much heavier material than the lever 36-31, therefore if the link is not supported it will swing downwardly until the shaft 35 will strike the cross bar 32 whereupon the link 33 will be supported in a downward tilted position as shown in Figures 2 and. 3.

At '38 is a brace element, preferably made of a piece of pipe, one end of which is welded to the plate 6 and the other end is welded to the pipe 9 at a point just below where the draw bar- 13 passes through the pipe 9.

The operation of the device is as follows: The load of the well is imposed on the rod line l8 and is in the direction of the arrow A at all times. The shaft 28 is connected to the power unit which imparts a reciprocal motion to the shaft 28. The loop or link 33 being hooked as the hook 20 functions to pull the draw bar l3 in the direction of the arrow B and when the power unit' moves the shaft 23 in the direction of the arrow C, the load of the pump jack will pull the draw bar l3 in the direction-of the arrows A and C, consequently the draw bar l3 takes on a reciprocal motion that is governed by the shaft 28. I

Now if it is desired to disconnect the draw bar from the power of the shaft 28, the lever 23 is raised so that the base element of the ,triangular stop element 26 will rest upon the top edge of the draw bar 13, and as the draw moves along in the direction of the arrow A the cross bar, or base element of the triangular stop element 26 will sink into the notch Zla whereupon the hook 2| will engage the cross bar, or base element, of the triangular stop element 26 and pushit against the pipe 9 whereupon the motion of the draw bar [3 is stopped and the movement of the link 33 is continued in thedirection of the arrows A and C for a short'distance to complete the full length of the stroke of the shaft 28. During the continued travel of the link 33 in the direction of the arrows A and C after the draw bar l3 has stopped, the weight of the link 33 will cause the link 33 to swing downwardly to a point where the shaft 36 engages the cross bar 32 and supports the link 33 in an inclined position such that the outer end of the link is positioned below the hook 20 and the shaft 28 and link 33 may continue their reciprocal motion and the draw bar I 3 and rod line l8 will continueto stand still.

Now if it is desired to connect'the draw bar l3 and rod line I8 with the power, all that is necessary to do is to wait until the shaft 28 and link 33 have moved to about their extreme wardly to the dotted position 31a, whereupon the outer end of the link 33 will raise into the notch 20a and on the reverse movement of the shaft 28 and link 33 the link 33 will engage the hook 20and move. the draw bar- I3 and rod line 18 in the direction of the arrow'B, at which time the triangular stop element 26 is released and the weight of the rear end of the lever 23 will cause that end of the lever 23 to drop to its normal horizontal position whereupon the triangular stop element has been withdrawn from the notch Zia and is again positioned above the upper edge of the draw bar l3 as shown in Fig. 1 so that the reciprocal motions of the shaft 28 will be passed on to the draw bar l3 and rod line l8,

If for any reason there should be a mishap of any kind and the hook 20 should become dis-1 engaged from the link 33' without the triangular stop'element being dropped into the notch Zia,

the load of the pump jack on the rod line l8 would pull the draw bar l3 rearwardly until the pin 22 would engage the pipe 9 whereupon the movement of the draw bar l3 and rod line. 3 would be stopped and hold so that no damage could occur.

Such modifications of my invention may be employed as lie within the scope ofv the appended claims without departing from the spirit and intention of the invention. Now having fully described by invention, I claim:

1. In a power hook-01f device; said device comprising a stationary base on which is rigidly mounted a retaining and guide element; a shaft that is adapted to be reciprocally driven, a draw from the said shaft, said draw bar having a second hook element formed in the upper edge of said draw bar and also being directed in a receding direction from the said shaft; a stop device, said stop device comprising a lever and a catch element that is pivotally mounted on one end of said lever, saidlever being pivotally mounted on said retaining and guide element in such a position that the said catch element will upon the rearward movement of said draw bar fall into engagement with the second'said hook and rest against the said retaining and guide element to prevent further rearward movement of the said draw bar; a coupling device for making and breaking connection between said shaft and coupling element, said link coupling element having a pivotal mounting between the bifurcations of said bifurcated element, a second lever element, said second lever element being rigidly associated with the said coupling link so that the swing of the coupling link may be governed by the second said lever, said coupling link being so positioned that it may be swung by the second said lever into engagement with the first hook element on said draw bar and will automatically drop from engagement from the first said hook on the said draw bar upon the engagement of the said stop element with the sec- 7 end said hook on the said draw bar.

2. Ina power hook-ofi device as defined in claim 1, a stop pin, said stop pin being rigidly fixed on said draw bar and extending outwardly therefrom on each side therefrom at a point intermediate the first and second said hook elements on said draw bar so thatif the draw bar were released from the coupling link without said stop element engaging the second said hook on the draw bar the stop pin would engage the said retaining and guide element to prevent further rearward movement of the draw bar.

3. In a power hook-off device as defined in claim 2, and stop means on said bifurcated element, said stop means on said bifurcated element being so positioned that the second said lever will engage the said stop on the bifurcated element so as to stop the swing of the said coupling ling and hold the coupling link in a position such that it will clear the first said hook element on the said draw bar upon the reciprocal motions of the said shaft;

JAMES P. NEEL. 

